Fireworks
by My Beautiful Ending
Summary: Sequel to "And to All a Good Night" and "Queen of Hearts." A job goes wrong and Harley gets injured, which begs the question: what does the Joker to do cheer up his harlequin? Read to find out! Hopefully fluffy.
1. A Job Gone Wrong

**This is the sequel to "And to All a Good Night" and "Queen of Hearts". It has The Dark Knight Joker, but he acts a little more like the animated series Joker. :D Hope you like, read and review! **

He was cursing a blue streak as he tossed the kid, Sammy, toward the driver's door. "Drive," he growled, the expression his face truly fearsome. The object in his arms whimpered, and he looked down in concern.

Her blue eyes stared up at him. "Puddin'?" she said, in a small, strained voice.

"You're gonna be okay, Harl," he said, glancing at the wound in her side oozing blood. Opening the back of the van, he laid her in gently. The engine started, but before he got in, he shot the three men who had been on the job with them. One of them had squealed to the cops, and the Joker didn't tolerate that. As they fell to the ground, he hopped in the back of the van and slammed the door, telling Sammy, "Take off!"

Grabbing a towel from the floor as the kid hit the gas and they took off to the sound of squealing tires, the Joker pressed it firmly against his harlequin's side.

She yelped and big tears leaked from her eyes. "That hurts," she moaned, trying to move his hands.

"Gotta stop the bleeding, pooh," he said, pressing harder. She winced and sniffed.

He cursed again, remembering the heist gone wrong. The cops had arrived within three minutes, and immediately started shooting. He knew it wasn't on a tip of the Bat-freak; he would have come barreling in himself. No, there had to be an informer. The only one he could count on totally besides Harl was Sammy. The kid was loyal, but he'd never tell him this. Bad for business when the hired help started to think better of themselves. So now he had to get new muscle. It was kinda astonishing at the rate he went through bullyboys.

Harley brought her gloved hand to her face, staring at the red liquid standing the material. "Am I gonna die?" she whispered.

"No," he growled. "We're gonna get you fixed up." He glanced up at the kid in the front seat, probably breaking the speed limit. "Head for Crane's place."

Sammy pushed the accelerator further down, turning down a side street. "Will he help?" he asked.

"He'd better," the Joker snarled. He'd make him well sorry if he didn't. Maybe he could carve his scarecrow mask into his face and see how he'd like it. He was quite good at doing that. The Joker licked his scarred mouth and grabbed another towel, placing it on top of the first one and pressing down hard. Harley started to leak tears again.

* * *

"You do know I'm not a doctor of medicine," Crane said scathingly as he started to work on the harlequin, who was thankfully unconscious due to a dose of anesthetic.

"We didn't exactly have _time_ to stop by Gotham General and get a _real _doctor," the Joker snapped. "If you make any wrong moves –"

"I know, I know," Crane said, raising his hands. "I get drilled through the head." He resumed searching the wound for the bullet while the Joker turned his gun over and over in his hands.

"Found it," he said after a minute or two. The sound of something metallic plinking against glass filled the air. "Now I just have to sew her up."

"Do a good job."

Crane glanced at him through his rectangular lenses. "Why'd you only come in with the boy?"

"I shot the others," the Joker replied, fingering his gun.

"Informants?" Crane asked, needle moving skillfully.  
The Joker grunted.

"The police are getting better," Crane shook his head, completing the line of stitches. He snipped the thread and grabbed the gauze, wrapping the wound. "I would advise against moving her, but I know you'll just ignore me." He walked over to the sink to wash his hands.

Sticking his gun in his pocket, the Joker walked over to the bedside and touched her face, just for a moment while his back was turned. She looked so tired. That place inside his chest that the rare good feelings came from was aching right now because she was the one that stimulated the good feelings. But she wasn't going to die. It would be all right.

The door burst open, and Red 'n Itchy strode in. "HARL!" she exclaimed, running to the blonde's side.

Her shriek made the woman on the bed wake slightly. Her blue eyes fluttered open, and she winced. But her eyes fell on him, and she smiled, mumbling, "Puddin'." He felt extremely gratified she had said his name instead of Poison Plant's.

"Harley, you're going to be just fine," the redhead assured her. "Jon sewed you up just grand." Her gaze shot to Crane. "Didn't you?" she said, threateningly.

"Of course I did, Pamela," he said, slightly amused. He was wiping his hands with a towel because he had finally gotten all the blood off.

"Good," she said in a satisfied tone. She moved from Harley's bedside to Crane and wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him. He kissed her back.

The Joker stared.

"Y' didn' know 'at?" Harley slurred, surprised.

The Joker frowned. "Never mind, Pooh." He kissed her forehead and she smiled, drifting off to sleep again.


	2. A Good Deed Done

**This is the sequel to "And to All a Good Night" and "Queen of Hearts". It has The Dark Knight Joker, but he acts a little more like the animated series Joker. :D Hope you like, read and review! **

2 A good deed done

Harley woke up in a green and purple room, familiar and comforting. _I'm home,_ she thought, smiling. But there was a biting pain in her side. _Oh, yeah, _she thought, remembering the heist. _Oww._ She tried to get up, but that made the pain spread all over her body. She collapsed back on the bed and tried to breathe evenly. No one else was in here. _They must be out in the kitchen or somethin',_ she thought to herself.

"Puddin'?" she tried calling. "Bablies?" she tried again. "Sammy?" she said, as a last resort.

The door creaked open and a rather nervous Sam stuck his head in the door. "Whaddya need?" he asked kindly.

"Can you help me up?" Harley asked. She realized she was wearing a huge t-shirt and pajama bottoms.

He blinked, weighing the risks. Violate the Joker's space that was clearly off limits, or not help his girl? Right now, he'd be more PO'ed if he didn't help Harley. Sam entered the room like there might be weight sensors under the carpet and helped ease Harley up in bed.

She panted, feeling the pain _everywhere. _"Owwww. Where's Mistah J?"

"He's with Dr. Crane. They didn't expect you to wake up so soon, I think."

Harley ran her hand over the stained pillows, and then lifted her hand to her own face. No one had wiped it free of makeup. "Sammy, could you be a doll and get me a wet washcloth?" she pointed toward the bathroom. "And then go get Mistah J."

He nodded and entered the bathroom, which was also purple and green.

"The red towels are mine," she called after him, and then wheezed. Talking made her chest hurt.

He found a red washcloth, stuck it under the faucet, wrung it out, and gave it back to her. Harley began to dab at her face as he hightailed it out of that room to go find the Joker.

* * *

The Joker stared at Crane, and finally spoke the thought that he had been wondering for a long time. "So…how do you two…"

Crane gave him a blue-eyed glare. "None of your business." They were sitting outside of the Joker's hideout, discussing crime, punishment, and girls.

"Hey, I know," the Joker said, smiling and feeling the pull of his scars. "I'm just, uh, a little _concerned._ You know."

"I synthesized an antidote to her toxins," Crane said, frowning at him. "Drop it."

"Okay," the Joker shrugged. "But I've been meaning to ask you –are you allergic –"

"I said, drop it!" Crane snapped.

The outside door opened and Sam stuck his head out. "She's awake, boss."

"It's dropped, Crane-y," Joker said, getting up. "Amscray, kid."

Sam scrammed.

* * *

He found her removing the last traces of her makeup from her face. Her face broke into a smile at his appearance. She tried to move over, but she winced in pain. "How long's it gonna be like this?" she asked him.

"Crane says a while." The Joker pulled a pill bottle out of his jacket. "You've got meds, though."

"Oh, yay," she said. "Where are the babies?"

"Plant Lover took them out for a run."

"Really?" Harley asked, her blue eyes widening. Pam didn't like anything that wasn't a plant. Though maybe she was starting to change; she seemed to like Crane, anyway.

"Yep." He grabbed a glass of water and handed it to her, along with the pill bottle.

She took a pill and washed it down with water. "How long is 'a while'?" she asked once she swallowed.

"Weeks."

Her blue eyes became huge. "Weeks! I don't wanna be sick on my birthday!"

He did a mental double take. Birthday? What? When did this happen? Of course he knew she _had _a birthday, everyone did. Even he did, if he could just remember what day it was. But she had never talked about a birthday before. "So, uh, when is it, _Po_oh?"

"July third, the day before Fireworks day." She put a hand to her stomach. "I'm hungry."

"Whaddya wanna eat?"

"I dunno. Can I sit on the couch?" She asked, trying to get her hair untangled.

He picked her up bridal style without further ado and carried her out into the living room/den area. She hadn't been expecting it, and froze for a second before relaxing into his arms.

**Reviews are welcome :D**


	3. Girl Talks with a Friend

**This is the sequel to "And to All a Good Night" and "Queen of Hearts". It has The Dark Knight Joker, but he acts a little more like the animated series Joker. :D Hope you like, read and review! **

**PS- it's a Batman Begins Crane too, in case you couldn't tell. This is a little short, but the next one should be up in a few days :)  
**

3 Girl talks with a friend

"How are you doing, Harley?" Pamela asked her a week later.

"Oh, pretty good, Red," Harley said. "It kinda hurts ta move, though."

"Have you been taking your medicine?" Pamela asked, straightening up. She was helping out around the place, cooking, cleaning, whatever. But the only thing she'd cook was meat, because she wouldn't 'serve' plants to anyone.

_Would that be like cannibalism? _Harley wondered idly. "Yeah, I am."

"Are you feeling okay?" Red asked, "Because I can get Jon to come and get a look at you."

"Oh, I'm fine," Harley waved her off. "So…you and Jon, huh?"

"Yeah," Pam said, collapsing on the other end of the couch. "How long did you know?"

"A couple of weeks," Harley said, smiling. "But it was a little obvious when you started making out with him when I was shot."

Pamela shrugged. "I decided I didn't want to hide anymore. You had gotten shot and I just thought –what if that had been Jon? Life is too short to just let something like that stay in the dark."

"Yeah," Harley sighed. "Family's a great thing to have," she said wistfully.

"Harley," Pam said, frowning, "What's wrong?"

"Nothin'," Harley said.

"Harl…" Pam said, drawing out the word. "There's something you're not saying. What is it?"

"I like kids," Harley said softly.

Pamela raised an eyebrow.

"All this talk of family made me think of it," Harley said.

Pamela propped her chin onto her elbow and stared across at Harley. "You want kids, Harley?"

"Pretty stupid, huh?" the blond said. "A super-villainess who wants kids. 'Yeah, honey, lemme get a babysitter for the kiddos while we go and rob a bank or somethin'."

"You don't have to get a sitter," Pam said. "You could just call me." She grinned.

"Har de har har," Harley said, sadly and sarcastically. "Doesn't matter 'cause I can't have 'em anyway."

Pamela blinked. Regret was written all over Harley's face. And her heart ached in response. "Well, that probably makes two of us," she said. "Toxins aren't really the best for pregnancy."

"What a pair, huh?" Harley asked. "I guess you really do like Jon more than plants."

"Yeah," Pamela said. "I guess I do." She hesitated. "Have you told the Joker about …all of this?"

"Nah," Harley said. "Figured there wasn't much point in bringing it up, since he can't help. It's me that's the problem."

Pam gave her an impulsive hug, and Harley winced, but then hugged her back.

* * *

Behind the door, the Joker made a face. What was it with girls and kids? Sure, they could be cute, and all, but they were annoying sometimes. He ran a hand over his face, smearing the makeup. Oh boy, this was going to be a problem. When girls got ideas into their heads, they wouldn't let go.

He walked outside, almost bumping into Crane. "I wouldn't go in there if I was you," he told him.

"Why?" Crane asked, raising a brow over his blue eyes.

"They're talking about babies."

"What?" the Scarecrow exclaimed.

Yeah, his reaction exactly.

**Reviews are welcome :D**


	4. Hearts on the Mend

**This is the sequel to "And to All a Good Night" and "Queen of Hearts". It has The Dark Knight Joker, but he acts a little more like the animated series Joker. :D Hope you like, read and review! **

4 Hearts on the mend

He was a strange man, with strange habits. He kept hyenas, for one. Bud and Lou, they had a very funny laugh. He had a fascination with knives, for another. You could find them just about anywhere, from the refrigerator to under a pillow to in his sock drawer.

He also read the papers backwards.

Well, not really backwards, but…opposite most people. He read the obituary section first.

It might have had something to do with the fact that he wanted to see who he'd killed that week. It might have been just morbid fascination. But whatever it was, it made him laugh. And today, it was very fortunate.

Robert Brown died of natural causes. Marylyn Connors drowned. Steven Winters, shot –_oops, that was me,_ the Joker thought, recognizing the name of his ex-employee –Teresa Harrison died in a car crash…

_Waitaminit, holdonasecond, _the Joker thought, his gaze snapping back to that obit. _I know that name._

'Teresa Harrison, 26, went to be with the Lord on Monday, June 30th. She died in a car crash. A single mother, she is survived by her two year old daughter…"

His mind flashed back to last Christmas, past the tree Harley had wanted and the presents…back to the rug rat Harley had found in the mall and taken her home. The blond toddler girl, whatserface.

Harley had given her back to her mother (indirectly through the Bat-freak, of course), out of guilt, shame, whatever.

And now the kid was gonna get lost in the foster system of darkness.

He flipped the newspaper to the front page to see what other poor sucker the B-man had thrown into Arkham lately, but he couldn't get the freaking image of the kid out of his head. She wasn't scared of him, or the hyenas, or anything. He smirked as he thought of her names for them: "Bah-bie" for Harley and " 'Day" for him.  
But she was gone; it was over, kaput, terminated. No reason to bring up the past. Right?

Right…

* * *

She was moping again.

He hated it when she moped.

She was the one who was supposed to keep him from moping! That was her primary function and goal in life; it sometimes seemed like. When she moped, he got edgy. And the edginess usually told him to do something about her moping.

He hated when that happened.

He didn't plan, didn't think too far ahead. He just _did_ stuff. And it was so crazy it usually worked. This didn't seem like one of those times. Sheesh, it was almost July already. He had a few days to snap her out of this funk before she _really _got depressed on her birthday.

His teeth ground together. Birthdays were overrated in his book.

But they weren't in his harlequin's.

* * *

He always said he didn't plan anything. And it was true.

He just connected the dots.

Sometimes there were lots of dots, sometimes there were few. Sometimes, there were tiny, barely discernable dots.

Sometimes you were lucky enough to trip over the largest hulking dot there ever was.

He swerved through three lanes of traffic, possibly causing a wreck or two, and pulled over by a building that proclaimed "Foster Home." That's where they tossed parentless rug rats, right? How many of those could there be in Gotham?

As it turned out, four. And of course the rug rat he was looking for _had_ to be in the fourth one.

It was a good thing all he had to do was point his gun at the social workers to get some answers, or else he might have gotten more annoyed than he already was.

So, in the fourth (count 'em, fourth) Foster Home, he walked in and pointed his gun. Everyone froze.

"Hiya," he said, smacking his scarred lips. "Do ya mind answerin'…a _question?"_ he asked the woman in a business suit who seemed to run things.

Her mouth gaped, like a fish. He had an urge to shove something into her mouth, but then she wouldn't be able to talk.

"Okay, lemmeaskyasomethin'doll," he said really fast. "Do you have a rug rat here…bout two or so, blond hair, last name Harrison?"

She stuttered, "Wha-wha-wha-"

"Never mind," he said, shoving her out of his way. He should have shoved something in her mouth before they started babbling. "I'll find her myself." He stalked along the hallway in his purple coat, glancing in at roomfuls of children who shrieked and cried.

" 'Day!" a happy, cheerful voice said in baby talk. He turned around.

Well, that saved him a lot of trouble. He strode up to the smiling blond toddler wobbling toward him. "C'mon, kid," he said, hoisting her up. "Harley's mopey. You're gonna make her better, 'kay?"

" 'Day," the little girl said contentedly, snuggling against his neck and smudging greasepaint on her face. What had Harley finally decided to call the little ankle-biter? Oh, yeah. Gamine. Thought that it fit in really well with the whole 'clown' thing. His harlequin had a thing for themes. He just had a thing for chaos. "C'mon then," he said, walking past all the people who were staring so hard their eyes were bugging out.

"Consider the kid, uh, adopted," he said before leaving the building.

**Reviews are welcome :D**


	5. Faithful 'til the End

**5 Faithful 'til the End**

**AN: IDk how this came out. I tried to make it cute and stuff, but IDk. :/ Hope you like it anyways. I promise I will go back and edit this story later, polish it up, but right now I need to make the fluff bunnies be quiet. Plus it's a seasonal fic. So I hope you like!  
**

He had to hide the kid somewhere until Harley's birthday. So he stashed the kid at Red Poison and ScareCrane's hide out.

"And just what am I supposed to do with her?" the redhead asked, annoyed.

"I dunno," he said. "Make her water your plants. Teach her minion skills. Something."

"Does she have a name?" Crane asked in a sarcastic tone.

"Gamine," the Joker said. The child looked up attentively. "Kid, this is Red and Crane. They're keepin' ya. Don't break anything."

And then he left.

The redhead looked down at the blond child, who had somehow attached herself to Crane's leg. "Harley did always go in for strange names," she said to herself.  
"Wed," the child said. "Cwane."

Blue eyes met green, and they both sighed in unison. _Oh well,_ Pamela thought to herself as she pulled the little girl off Jon, _if it makes Harley happy, and the Joker hasn't killed her yet, I guess there isn't too much of a problem._ Weren't she and Harley just talking about kids the other day? If Gamine was going to live with Harley and her sometimes violent, rather unstable criminal boyfriend, she'd need a sitter sometimes. And Pam was number one on Harley's speed dial.

_I guess this will be good practice._

_

* * *

_

It was so hard to take a shower with these stitches. First ya got to wrap 'em in plastic, and then tape the plastic down so the water doesn't get in 'em. And once you're done with the shower, you hate to take it all off.

And it really hurt to bend, too, so if she dropped the soap, how could she ever get it again?

Harley soaped up her blond mop and then rinsed. Her birthday was tomorrow. She couldn't remember how old she was going to be, but she knew she wasn't at thirty yet. Definitely not. And she remembered passing twenty-five. So she felt it safe to assume that she would be around 26-28. She wasn't going any closer to thirty. She wondered if people would shoot off fireworks early for the big fourth. She remembered that as a kid, like she was gettin' a special show just for her 'cause it was her birthday.

_Fireworks make me all tingly inside,_ she thought to herself with a smile.

Once her hair was dry, she shut off the water and stepped out of the shower, wrapping a towel around herself. Harley dried herself off and then peeled back the tape to expose the black line of stitches. Jonny said she could get 'em out today. He was probably waitin' with Mistah J, talkin' about manly stuff. There was nobody manlier than her puddin'.

But she guessed Jonny had to come close, since he was with Red and all.

* * *

"OW! OW! OW!" Harley exclaimed as Jonathan came close to her with scissors.

"I haven't even started yet," he said, exasperated. "And Pamela gave you something to numb the area. It won't hurt."

"I don't like needles and I don't like scissors and I don't like stitches," Harley whined.

The Joker suppressed the urge to hit something and rolled his eyes instead. "Let the _doc_ take the sitches out, _Po_oh," he said in a firm voice.

Pam was helping to hold her down. "_Harley_," she said, exasperated, "hold still."

Jon began to snip the black threads, and Harley shrieked.

Everyone gave him death glares. "Does no one have confidence in me?" he asked, blue eyes flashing.

The Joker sighed. "Look, Harl, you won't get your present if you don't let Craney take the stitches out."

That did it. She stopped wriggling and said, "Present?" Her face glowed. "Oh, Mistah J, you got me a _birthday_ present?" She tried to throw her arms around him, but he stopped her.

"Yeah, and if the stitches don't come out, the present won't either," he insisted.

She made a face but sat still for the rest of the time.

Afterwards, Crane said to the Joker in a low voice, "Are you sure you want that kid? She has an unusual propensity for getting herself into trouble."

"Li-ke?" the Joker asked, popping the 'k'.

"She's named all of Pam's killer plants. At least, we think she has," Crane said under his breath. "She goes around talking to them in baby talk and plays with them. Do you really want her around the hyenas?"

Said animals were in the next room, fighting over a piece of meat. You could hear it quite clearly now that the harlequin and Pam had gone into the kitchen.

"She's seen 'em before," he said shortly.

Crane's eyes got huge behind his glasses. "When?"

"Christmas," the Joker said shortly, and walked away.

Jonathan resolved to get the full story from Pamela later.

* * *

He convinced her to hide in a box that he wrapped messily. It occurred to him that she might not be able to breathe, but he ignored that fact. Oh well. He hoped she wouldn't make much noise. "Day?" her little voice chirped.

"Shshshsshsh," he said. "Bequietforasecondwouldya?" He shoved the box into a closet and tiptoed into the room where Harley slept. It was one AM on her birthday. When he climbed into bed with her, she grumbled and woke up.

"What time is it, puddin'?"

"One in the morning, _po_oh. Happy, ah, birthday."

She squealed and sat up. "Oh, _thank_ you, J!" She threw her arms around him.

"I haven't even, ah, given you _your present_ yet, Harl."

Her eyes got really big. "Present?" she said excitedly.

"Yeah, wait here and lemme get it."

* * *

She sat Indian style and waited for him to bring her the present. She was really touched. It wasn't often that J remembered important dates. And less so that he got her things. But deep down, she knew that he loved her. And she loved him, for all his faults. Love looks different to different people, and they were pretty different people. But she had to sniff back a tear or two. She was all about emotion; he wasn't. She was all about touch. He wasn't, unless it was on his terms. But she couldn't think of living without him.

He carried in a big messily wrapped box and set it on the bed beside her. "Aww, Puddin', thank you," she said, beaming at him.

He smirked. He only did that when he was pleased with himself. She stared at the box with renewed interest. What could it be? Only then did she see it move.

"Is it…a puppy friend for the babies?" she asked. "Or maybe one of Red's hyper plants?"

"Open it and find out," he said.

She ripped the wrapping paper off of the box and lifted the lid, almost dropping it as a little blond head poked out. "Bah-bie," it said.

Her mouth dropped open and she stared, speechless. "Gamine?" she whispered, and then shrieked happily, lifting the little girl out of the box and giving her a hug.

"Bah-bie," the little girl said contentedly. "Mommy."

Harley stared at the Joker, who had a huge grin on his face, wrinkling the scars. "How?" Harley managed to spit out.

"I read in the obits that the rug rat's mom died. They tossed her in a foster home." He shrugged. "And you wanted a kid."

Her heart melted, and the water works started. "And you got her for me?" Harley squeaked. "Oh, J!" She threw herself at him and he caught her and the kid. His arms were so strong and warm. "Thank you," she said, as she drenched his shirt with her tears.

"Couldn't have you, ah, _mopin'_ anymore, could I?" he said, patting her back awkwardly.

"Day," Gamine said, getting squashed. He lifted her up and said to Harley, "This doesn't mean I'm retiring or anything."

"Course not puddin'!" Harley exclaimed. "We can get Pam to babysit when we need to do villainous stuff, and all that."

Impulsively, she kissed him. They could be a family, abet a little strange. But they could. It would work. And remarkably enough, he kissed her back, as a little toddler looked on, happy.

**Harley likes reviews. They're almost as good as presents! :)**


End file.
